December 7, 2009

Spring Jim?

“We never go into an offseason with an offseason shopping list because that is ongoing, just as it was in June and July and August,” said Williams, during his media briefing Monday evening. “It’s difficult to place too much importance on one meeting when we are always trying to acquire the best talent with the best fit.

“There’s always one more move to make,” Williams said.

That one move figures to be a left-handed hitter, and it probably will come in the form of an outfielder but also could be a designated-hitter candidate. Manager Ozzie Guillen stressed during his Monday interview session that he wasn’t interested in a player who solely would serve as a DH, seemingly ruling out a return for favorite son Jim Thome.

Nothing seems set in stone, though, with the tender date of Dec. 12 certainly opening up more, somewhat cost-efficient options and not pushing the White Sox to rush to any sort of solution. Pat Rooney, Thome’s longtime representative, planned to meet with the White Sox this week, just to get an overall feel of the team’s thought process, but any return for Thome would come near the end of the offseason.

“At the end of all of this, we’ll sit down and take a look at where we are at, for that given time,” Williams said. “Everyone knows I have the utmost respect for Jim Thome, the man and the player. But he’s got to see what’s available, and we have to see who we are and what type of team we want to field.”